artificial to real...

This is a discussion on artificial to real... within the Beginner Planted Aquarium forums, part of the Beginner Freshwater Aquarium category; -->
so i REALLTY want to switch out my artificial plant for real ones but ive already killed a fern of some sort. I didnt ...

so i REALLTY want to switch out my artificial plant for real ones but ive already killed a fern of some sort. I didnt use any fertilizer as my lfs did not mention the need althoug i guess i should of asked.I just want some live plants that are easy to maintain and wont out grow my current tank (listed below with its inhabitants) its not a tall 20. if anyone has any suggustions?? i really like java moss but im afraid it will take over. and african swords are pretty but i dont know anything else about them....

I wouldn't worry too much over java moss taking over. I've found that it's a slow grower and you can always remove portions of it at weekly water change time. I love the looks of it growing over driftwood. It's also pretty low maintenance and does well in low light.

to answer your question about the type of lighting......its a double sided 15w/120v incadacent (sp??) light....i just realized the box says the bulbs i bought are for aquarium plants....hope this doesnt affect my fish?!?!

to answer your question about the type of lighting......its a double sided 15w/120v incadacent (sp??) light....i just realized the box says the bulbs i bought are for aquarium plants....hope this doesnt affect my fish?!?!

You can grow anything with that light over a 20 gallon, but some plants will require injected CO2

if you just want to grow easy plants, like anubias, echinodorus and crypt species etc, then you will be fine with an inert substrate, but dosing an all in one fertiliser that will provide your plants with full NPK+trace (TPN+ if your in the UK) elements so they can thrive, when you plants are thriving, algae will not, its as simple as that.

i take it your still cycling? fish in?

I would not add plants until your cycle has finished, as they will be covered in algae whilst ammonia levels are elevated.

i guess my tank is still cycling....those parms were from 10/16 i just tested again and my parms are

ph 7.6
ammonia between 0 and 0.25ppm (very close call)
nitrite 0.25ppm
and nitrate is down to 40ppm

and yes i do have fish in....i went based on info given to me by a lfs that i no longer use because they told me to add the fish within 24 hours of set-up...after finding this awesome forum i have learned that it could have been disasterous!!! thankfully i have not lost any fish due to it

i would really like to stay away from anything too advanced (co2 injection) as i am still learning the ins and outs of basic fish keeping....i want to try and get the proper hang on that before i get in to anything more...one step at a time....although i do want to beable to give my fish a better living enviroment that is more natural....co2 may not be as difficult as i think it is but untill you just mentioned it is never new something like that would ever been needed for plants (no green thumb)

with that being said, if that is what i have to do to make sure my fish are taken care of properly i have not problem learning!! :)

thanks jack!! i really appreciate the help!! no i am not in the UK iam in the US, florida to be exact....also, how would i go about testing kh and what does it even mean?

KH really isn't important unless your KH is 0, even if it is it doesn't pose many problems for the plants because you will be dosing ferts, or do you mean NPK?

NPK stands for nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, each letter stands for the each element on the periodic table.
N=nitrogen
P=phosphorous
K=potassium
We dont really need to test for P or K but we can test for P if you wish.
In the Us you have a product called flourish, which is made by seachem, its an all in one fertilizer bar one nutrient...phosphate. However you tap water may contain enough phosphate so you wont need to worry about dosing additional Phosphate.

As long as you have enough of each nutrient, your plants will thrive, keep your photo period short for the first few months (4 hours a day) and then once the plants have fully established themselves you can up it to 6-8 hours a day.